BEA, Book Expo America, is a huge publishing event every year. Last year (or the year before), BEA started something called Consumer Day where readers and book buyers were invited to peruse among authors and other publishing professionals. What I recall the most about this were the snarky comments made by some because they didn’t want to deal with Consumer Day. And, some consumers complained because not enough was mentioned and they felt clueless.

What does surprise me, however, is to be at the largest book show in North America, amidst a hub of intense media activity supposedly seeking out the fresh and the new, the still-unknown author, the innovative new publisher, the hot new eBook, etc., and observing, instead, the herd mentality of the press and, therefore attendees, to only those mainstays of the industry: the largest publishers with the already-famous authors, as well as “celebrities” such as Snookie who — well I don’t really know what she does — and Jim Carrey, who wrote a book but was signing glossies because his book isn’t even out yet. Watching all the attention given to celebrity chefs, actresses who have children and decide they are now qualified to write children’s books, actresses that no longer act but apparently now know how to write…the list goes on…There are other articles to which I could link, but you get the point. It wasn’t always organized well with the consumer in mind and this year, for the next BEA, they’ve decided to change a few things.

Elaborating on the shift, BEA said that its “research, industry trends, and direct feedback” has shown that the consumer aspect of the show is “critical to driving our core values which are launching and discovering new titles and authors.”Sounds as if someone got smart this year. I hope it works and I hope they really do keep that in mind. Nothing against Jim Carrey, but if I were going to BEA the last thing of interest to me would be a signed glossy of him.

Side note: I do think there are M/M publishers there. I’m not sure which ones, but I remember seeing something about it somewhere at BEA time last year.

Charged for HIV Infecting

The gist of this next article is exactly what it sounds like. A guy has been arrested and charged for allegedly infecting innocent people with the HIV virus. It gets deeper. He’s a student, and he allegedly filmed sex scenes with over 30 people who may or may not have known they were being filmed or that he is HIV positive.

A former gay lover of his came forward to police claiming he had caught HIV and gonorrhea from him. A month later, four more charges were filed against him for the same reason, according to New York Daily News.Aside from how rotten it is to do something like this, another aspect of this story could be why weren’t those people who were having sex with him thinking about the fact that he “might” be HIV positive? Why weren’t they wearing condoms at all times, or insisting that he wear a condom? Having sex nowadays with multiple partners is like driving on the freeway. Unless you learn the basic principles of defensive driving you’re putting your life at risk.

Don’t trust anyone. The world is NOT peace, love, hope and change as you were led to believe when you were younger. It can be a very dangerous place and to think otherwise might land you on ARV drugs for the rest of your life.

Author of over 100 published LGBT romance novels and stories, including AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN and best selling VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE SERIES. Hates beets.
New Hope, PA Palm Springs, CA
ryan-field.blogspot.com